Details:
Team: Sanket Shukl, Cheryl Wellum, Daniel Newman, Samuel Zang.
Responsibilities: Research, sketching, usability testing.
Duration: 1.5 weeks.
Type: Graduate course project under Marty Seigel
Problem Statement:
Is a star based rating system really convenient? What do the stars stand for anyway? Can there be a better way of analysing feedback?
One way that Uber helps customers judge their experience is to allow the registered users to rate their trip experience on a 5-point scale. In addition, the user is encouraged to write comments and leave feedback on the driver’s performance. Your challenge is to create a more compelling smart phone design for the uber app then what exists today. It may be a complete overhaul of their existing system or a slight variation.
Predispositions and Research:
Based on the primary and secondary research, we found that the problems users had with the existing system could be categorized into three types:
- Undefined Stars and Expectations: Uber’s current five-star rating system, although easy to use,does not define each stars meaning explicitly. This issue is further exasperated when factoring in that each user has different preferences and expectations in a cab ride, impacting what they consider average.
- No/ Delayed Rating: Usually the user's are in a hurry and want the feedback process to be short and succinct. Often times, this results in users ignoring the rating process (unless it is exceptionally good or bad) until the next time they ride and by then their memory of the trip is skewed.
- Misappropriation of Blame: As Uber does not explicitly state the level of service they expect from their drivers on the rating page it is possible a driver can receive a bad rating for something that is not inherently his fault(eg. icy roads or heavy traffic). As users who give a bad rating are not forced to leave a comment on their ride it is impossible to evaluate whether a driver was underperforming or judged unfairly.
Insights:
From all the research we did, and from all the users and Uber drivers we talked to, our team uncovered a mental model of how users see the existing rating system. The insights are as follows:
- Users may not want to give away stars.
- Users may be accustomed to the old system.
- Users are not generally interested in leaving a comment.
- Users want an easy, non time consuming and succinct metrics to record the feedback.
Initial Sketches:
We came up with a binary question, prompting the user to decide either yes or no to the question and then if the user clicked no, there would be different options to gauze the response.
User Testing:
When we tested our design with uber users in a public setting, we received interesting feedback. Even though the design was clear and self explanatory for the users, they had following concerns:
- The interface was too wordy
- It took more clicks than the current system
- Forced users to spend more time on getting their feedback through.
Back to sketching:
After the the feedback form our first user testing, we went back to the white board and decided to address the pain points the users had with our initial design. To replace the wordy design, we decided to use the thumbs up/ thumbs down interaction element.
We even re arranged the categories we would take the feedback from the user. If the user did not like any particular aspect of the service, it would now be easier for Uber to know the precise area they can improve on.
Alternate Concepts:
Inviting critique:
When we presented this design to the class, and invited critique, it sparked a conversation. showing a design to other designer minds in the class helped me personally to understand my inclinations and my mistakes. The thumbs up/ thumbs down system was confusing since it was not clear enough to be interpreted. For example, a thumbs up/ thumbs down button next to the word 'Route' was ambiguous. Going back to the white boards, we as a team decided to do the following things:
- Understand the user's mental model
- Avoid all ambiguity
- Increase intuitiveness (by color coding words).
Final design Solution
The Main Screen:
The main screen has three basic components as follows:
- Map: the map shows the destination where the driver leaves the customer, and the map aspect of our design is unchanged as compared to the earlier Uber design.
- Details: the details pane shows the information of the driver, fare, and cost as is already present in the Uber app currently.
- Feedback question: feedback question is where we have changed the design in a major way. Replacing the older confusing five star system by the binary question makes the user think less. It is easy for the customer to clearly define if she/ he is satisfied with the service. The customer can click either 'yes', 'no' or hit the delay button which prompt for feedback before the next ride.
The Positive Feedback Scenario:
Once the customer clicks either 'yes' or 'no' in the main screen as shown above, a pop up for further feedback appears on the screen. To address all the drawbacks of the current system as we had identified in our insights, we categorised the feedback into four distinct types:
- Professionalism
- Driving
- Car Condition
- Route
By default the sliders are at the centre (neutral) area. The user can slide them to the right or left for good or bad respectively. Alternatively the user may also choose to leave the sliders untouched if she/ he is in a hurry or reluctant to spend time on this. We also used color coding to make the good versus bad side more intuitive for the user, since not every user will identify right side with positive feedback.
The Negative Feedback Scenario:
On the other hand if the user wish to give a negative feedback, she/ he can slide the slider buttons all the way to the left, indicated by the red are at the top bar.
Having four distinct categories helps Uber to identify what exactly went wrong in the experience. This will also help the company to determine how much of it was genuinely the driver's fault.
To make the design easy and quick, the slider can slide only three places i.e right, centre or left. This will avoid confusion in the mind of the user about the degree of goodness or badness being related to how much she/ he slides the slider.
The Optional Comment Screen:
We all will agree that no one invests more than 30 seconds when it comes to completing mandatory feedbacks, and feedbacks asking for additional comments are really annoying.
In our design we respect the user's lack of willingness to invest the time, and hence we have made comments an optional task. If the user is really annoyed about some specific service experience, she/ he can simply hit the comment button and the keypad along with the comment box will pop up.
Upon pressing the send button, the feedback along with the comments is saved for Uber to analyse.
The Thank you Screen:
Providing a feedback back to the user about their feedback is really important step to assure the user that the feedback is saved and the process is over. This enables for intuitive design as the user knows the he can now simply shut the app.
Therefore the thank you screen is more than just a formal message at the end of the feedback process. This screen also provides Uber with advertising options by embedding social network sharing buttons at the bottom.
Click here for Design Rationale Document
Personal Reflection:
Looking back at the entire design process for this project, I have learnt a lot of new things about design, about team interactions, about users, and about delivering the desired experience via the design.
My mistakes and my take-aways:
- Iterations: I learnt how to enhance the existing design by listening keenly to the feedback we received. Focusing on every element of the design, and iterating to come up with more than a dozen alternate solutions helped me personally to overcome the mindset of developing affinity to a particular design.
- Open mindedness: Being open minded to the alternate design ideas of my teammates helped me not only to be a better designer, but also a better person. Respecting other's thought process helped me develop a friendly bonding with every team member and helped to keep the team process smooth.
- Punctuality: This was something I noticed as I worked in the team environment. Being punctual is not only essential for valuing team member's time but also for the overall productivity of the team.
- Articulation: Working in the team, I made it sure that I always articulated my thoughts and gave my inputs to every design decision. More importantly, I learnt to make sure that every team member's voice is heard and every team member's opinions are thought of before making decisions.